Quest to find Chat Jones

Published: Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 5:04 p.m.

It is the month heralded by Author Thomas Wolfe. “Lean down your ear upon the earth,” Wolfe writes, “and listen. Some things will never change. Some things will always be the same.”

I recently took a walk down Main Street Hendersonville with Chat Jones. Some of you joined us.

Our journey was unique for it allowed us to travel back in time to view buildings, places as they once were — from Boyd Park to the Historic Courthouse.

Chat and I recalled time past, time present — and time immutable.

And together we concluded: “The more we study a place, the longer we know a place, the more mysterious it becomes. That’s what makes history so fascinating.”

Chester Allen “Chat” Jones died on Oct. 12, 2012.

Chat set an example for all to follow.

To find Chat Jones, we must look for him in acts of kindness, in respect for family and heritage, in love for people who have made this county great.

If we are to find Chat Jones, we must seek connections — look for him in the eyes of his wife, his children, his grandchildren.

If we would find Chat Jones, we must visit St. Paul Episcopal Church in Edneyville: Enter the sanctuary, sit in a pew, experience the reverence. This is the place where Chat Jones and Judy Lyda were married.

If we would find Chat Jones, we must take time to recall how he dealt with people, all people — the genuine respect he had for those with whom he transacted business at Jones Auto Sales, there on the corner of Oakland and Asheville Highway.

If we would find Chat Jones, we might attend a Kiwanis Club meeting — hear the enthusiastic applause for athletes and scholars, learn what unselfish service really means, visit with Marvin Larson, attend an athletic event for special needs children.

If we would find Chat Jones, we ought to attend a reunion of historic Edneyville High School and experience the pride of being a yellow jacket. For to find Chat Jones is to discover what makes the Edneyville community so energized and alive — and loyal.

If we would find Chat Jones, we must travel to what Louise Bailey called unfrequented places: “We must turn from the main road and go the long way around a mountain.”

If we are to find Chat Jones, we must journey with Dr. George A. Jones to the heart of Henderson County — stopping along the way to hear the music of the rivers and creeks, to smell the fragrance of apple trees blooming in the spring and experience the harvest of apples in the fall.

“We shall not cease from exploration … and the end of all exploring,” in the words of T.S. Eliot, “is to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

If we would find Chat Jones, an eighth-generation Henderson County native, we must “leave the highway and wind along a narrow lonely road to the heart of a valley below — for that’s where the character of the mountain lies, and the history of the people who live there — there by the back road that winds along the ridges and hints of the lives of early settlers.”

We have here in Henderson County an example of a civilization carved from a wilderness by our ancestors, and this, the story of Henderson County, is a living legacy which has been handed down from the past.

If we would find Chat Jones, we must realize with the poet that “what we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning … the end is where we start from.”

Chat Jones was a generous person. He was a carrier of our history. He will be missed — but he is not lost.

“For what doth the Lord require of a man but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” (Micah 6:8)

<p>October has come again.</p><p>It is the month heralded by Author Thomas Wolfe. “Lean down your ear upon the earth,” Wolfe writes, “and listen. Some things will never change. Some things will always be the same.”</p><p>I recently took a walk down Main Street Hendersonville with Chat Jones. Some of you joined us.</p><p>Our journey was unique for it allowed us to travel back in time to view buildings, places as they once were — from Boyd Park to the Historic Courthouse.</p><p>Chat and I recalled time past, time present — and time immutable.</p><p>And together we concluded: “The more we study a place, the longer we know a place, the more mysterious it becomes. That's what makes history so fascinating.”</p><p>Chester Allen “Chat” Jones died on Oct. 12, 2012.</p><p>Chat set an example for all to follow.</p><p>To find Chat Jones, we must look for him in acts of kindness, in respect for family and heritage, in love for people who have made this county great.</p><p>If we are to find Chat Jones, we must seek connections — look for him in the eyes of his wife, his children, his grandchildren.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we must visit St. Paul Episcopal Church in Edneyville: Enter the sanctuary, sit in a pew, experience the reverence. This is the place where Chat Jones and Judy Lyda were married.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we must take time to recall how he dealt with people, all people — the genuine respect he had for those with whom he transacted business at Jones Auto Sales, there on the corner of Oakland and Asheville Highway.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we might attend a Kiwanis Club meeting — hear the enthusiastic applause for athletes and scholars, learn what unselfish service really means, visit with Marvin Larson, attend an athletic event for special needs children.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we ought to attend a reunion of historic Edneyville High School and experience the pride of being a yellow jacket. For to find Chat Jones is to discover what makes the Edneyville community so energized and alive — and loyal.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we must travel to what Louise Bailey called unfrequented places: “We must turn from the main road and go the long way around a mountain.”</p><p>If we are to find Chat Jones, we must journey with Dr. George A. Jones to the heart of Henderson County — stopping along the way to hear the music of the rivers and creeks, to smell the fragrance of apple trees blooming in the spring and experience the harvest of apples in the fall.</p><p>“We shall not cease from exploration … and the end of all exploring,” in the words of T.S. Eliot, “is to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, an eighth-generation Henderson County native, we must “leave the highway and wind along a narrow lonely road to the heart of a valley below — for that's where the character of the mountain lies, and the history of the people who live there — there by the back road that winds along the ridges and hints of the lives of early settlers.”</p><p>We have here in Henderson County an example of a civilization carved from a wilderness by our ancestors, and this, the story of Henderson County, is a living legacy which has been handed down from the past.</p><p>If we would find Chat Jones, we must realize with the poet that “what we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning … the end is where we start from.”</p><p>Chat Jones was a generous person. He was a carrier of our history. He will be missed — but he is not lost.</p><p>“For what doth the Lord require of a man but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” (Micah 6:8)</p><p>Excelsior! Still higher … ever upward.</p>